Be more every day

Practice Patience

It all started this morning, bright and early at 5:30 am when I went in our basement to get in my daily workout and found a flooded basement.

We spent 2 hours pumping the water out and it just kept coming! Where was this water coming from? I decided to work from home to bail the water out every hour or so and James went to take a shower… no hot water.

Our water heater was done. It was leaking water everywhere! A few calls and lucky we got someone in to replace it today. Owning a house really is a money pit.

It took the gentleman 3ish hours to pump out the old one and install the new one. He said it was so old and rusted that when he unscrewed the connector the piece disintegrated in his hand! I didn’t really believe him until I went downstairs and saw the rust particulates everywhere. What a mess! That took me another 2 hours to clean up and put everything back all the while managing conference calls and actually getting work done!

Even though it was not a pleasant experience, I am proud of how we handled it. In the past when things like that would happen we would B* and moan and yell, but that doesn’t accomplish much. Although we were extremely upset and frustrated, I am glad we didn’t let it ruin our day completely. On a positive note, I got an enormous amount of work done because I could sit in silence and just work with no interruptions. Another bonus, I got work done in my pajamas all day since we didn’t have any hot water! Plus number 3, our basement is back to normal and so clean! Ready for my workout tomorrow!

I am happy with our new water heater, it is quieter and takes up less space too. I wonder what will break next. We thought it would have been the furnace!
After dinner the kids had some cuddle time with daddy. Finding Nemo was on. It’s a classic!

Patience is really made up of three aspects. One is persistence. That’s the capacity to keep on going even though you can’t yet see the end result. It’s what keeps us moving toward our goal and thus helps us make our dreams come true. Two is acceptance. Accepting that whatever is happening right now is the way it is. The third is a sense of peacefulness or serenity or calmness in the face of what is.

Why is patience important?

To understand that, we need to look at the other side and ask, “What is impatience?” Impatience is on the anger continuum. First you have irritation, then impatience and then anger and, at the far end, rage. So, besides helping us reach goals, what is important about patience is that it keeps our anger turned off.

What do we gain by being patient?

Ultimately, patience allows us to act more mindfully and wisely. You get peace of mind when things are challenging, and you also have better relationships with other people — parents, kids, co-workers, spouse. Lord knows, patience is a quality we most need for high-functioning relationships. It allows us to hang in there and keep going, whether with a person or with a process, or in a business.

That’s some good stuff right there.
What was the last appliance you had to replace? Was it a catastrophe?